


some things stay the same

by veronicabunch



Category: Archie Comics, Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Future, Background Relationships, Friendship, Future Fic, Gen, Jughead Jones/Reggie Mantle - Freeform, Reunions, Surprises
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-23
Updated: 2017-09-23
Packaged: 2019-01-04 06:28:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,391
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12163350
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/veronicabunch/pseuds/veronicabunch
Summary: Nothing surprises Veronica. Except maybe this.





	some things stay the same

**x x x**

There is very little that can surprise Veronica Lodge. In fact, she can’t remember the last time she was genuinely surprised. She relies on her gut, and more often than not, she’s right. Her mother says that’s what makes her such a great CEO.

Still, even Veronica is human.

One Saturday evening, the clock in the hall chimes eleven, and she’s about to walk up stairs to her bedroom. She hasn’t quite made it to the first step when she hears a knock on her door. Veronica draws her eyebrows together, and turns around. Who the hell would be coming to her house at 11pm on a Saturday?

Veronica quickly runs through her schedule. Had she forgotten a lunch with Betty, who was coming over to check on her? Did she miss a text from Archie? Maybe she had been late in RSVPing to Reggie’s dinner party next week. She frowns, because none of that seems right. Perhaps Betty and Archie just got into a fight. Or…

Well, there’s only one way to find out.

Slipping out of her new heels that she was breaking in, Veronica tiptoes to the door. See, she had assured her mother she’d be fine in this little house by herself. She would admit, the windows were a bit too big. Still, she loved this place. She’d bought it after her first investment paid back  _five_  times what she put into it.

Veronica stands on her tiptoes to look through the peephole. And…well, she can honestly say she never saw this coming.

She swings the door open. “Jughead?”

“Yeah. I…I’m sorry, I just–”

He’s soaking wet, and a loud crack of thunder and lightning appear to set the mood right. Veronica blinks hard, because  _this_  is not the Jughead she remembers. She knew he had had a hard time after his father died, and then when his little sister got married, he kind of faded away from everyone. He’d been travelling around the US, and Europe for almost four years now. That’s the story as the Riverdale gang knows it, anyway.

“Can I come in?”

“Oh! Yes, of course. Just give me a minute. I’m going to run upstairs and get some towels and stuff. Please just…just wait here, yes?” Veronica asks as she closes the door behind him. God, she hopes that he takes her seriously. It’s been four years since anyone’s heard from Jughead. Occasionally, a post card would come in the mail to someone, but it had gotten few and far between. She takes a moment to take in the sight of him.

God, he looks tired. He looks beaten, and…heartbroken really. When he’d started his quest around the country, Veronica had wired him a couple thousand bucks. Okay, more like ten thousand. But that had been back when they were still best friends. She had never expected him to pay her back; she’d simply wanted him to have a safety net during his journey to find himself.

Veronica figures he hasn’t shaved his face in about three months. She had no idea he could even grow facial hair. His eyes are tired. There’s no spark to them. Veronica doesn’t wait any longer.

She runs up the stairs, two at a time, and down the hall. Veronica chooses only the best towels, only the best soft clothes she has from the guest room, and grabs a candle. She can light it after he’s had a chance to get dry.

When she comes flying down the stairs, she almost expects him to not be there. Like she had missed him so much that her mind was playing tricks on her.

But sure enough, there he was. Just looking wet and miserable.

“Here. There’s a bathroom down this hall and to the left. You can change there. Dry off. I’ll go make some coffee.” She pauses. “Well, actually, let’s do tea instead.”

“Thanks, Ronnie…” Jughead runs his hand through his hair, before he accepts everything that’s in her arms. Except the candle. She carefully takes that back. “I’ll…thanks.”

Veronica doesn’t know what to do, so she texts Betty and Archie.

 

**RONNIE:**   _jughead just arrived at my door step???_

**ARCHIE:** _that’s not very funny, ron._

**BETTY:** _wait, are you serious. you never triple-question-mark._

**RONNIE:** _dead srs…_

**ARCHIE:** _wat_

**RONNIE:** _don’t tell anyone or anything bc he seems sad and spooked and idk what to do, but he’s changing into some dry shit now_

**BETTY:** _have you told reg?_

**RONNIE:** _i don’t know how to. I think that should come from Jug, don’t you?_

**ARCHIE:** _bets wants to know if he looks like he’s been eating well_

**RONNIE:** _def not…i hear him. i’ll update soon._

**ARCHIE:** _make sure he gets food! and water! bets is v concerned_

**RONNIE:** _k_

“I wasn’t sure if I’d still be welcomed here…” Jughead murmurs. He adjusts himself in Reggie’s spare PJs. That guy passes out here enough, he insisted on leaving some stuff behind. Mostly though, Veronica thinks it’s because Reggie finds his place too lonely, but she never minded the company. “I wouldn’t blame you if you kicked me out.”

“That’d be like kicking a puppy dog out into this storm. No way,” she tells him. She hopes she sounds convincing. Because  _really,_  what is stopping her from kicking him out? He took money from her and then went basically silent for years. It doesn’t matter though. She leads them into the living room, and lights the candle.

Jughead rubs the back of his neck before he finally decides to sit down. “So, um. How have you been?”

She snorts. “Oh no. You can’t show up to my house on a Saturday night at midnight–eleven, whatever–and expect that I’ll be okay with you simply  _not_  telling me what the hell brings you here.”

“It’s complicated.”

Veronica kicks her feet up onto the couch. “Well, I guess it’s some damned dumb luck that I have all the time in the world to listen to complicated stories.”

“I–” Jughead sighs. “Ronnie, I–”

“Veronica. You’ve lost Ronnie privileges.”

“Veronica. Sorry. Do you think we could do this in the morning?”

She sighs; Veronica knows when she should push and when to hold back. One look at Jughead’s exhausted face tells her to bite her tongue. “Yeah, sure. Whatever. I’ll grab some sheets.”

“Where’s Smithers? Is he still working with your mom?”

Veronica freezes at the mention of her beloved butler. Even though Smithers had always been like family to them. She doesn’t look at Jughead, but bends forward to blow out the candle. “He died.”

Jughead doesn’t say another word, even after she’s shown him the guest room he’ll be sleeping in. She doesn’t meet his eyes; it’s too hard now.

Before Veronica leaves the room, Jughead mumbles. She turns to look at him, and waits. He repeats himself, a little louder this time. “Thanks for letting me stay here. Really.”

She looks away as she calls out, “Night, Jughead.”

“Night.”

Veronica wonders if he’ll still be here when she wakes up.

**x x x**

Not only is he still in her place, but when she comes out of her bedroom yawning, he’s in the kitchen cooking. She’s intrigued, but doesn’t comment. Simply sits down at the island, and rubs one of her eyes. “What the hell are you doing here, Jughead?”

He doesn’t look at her. Maybe it’s easier for him this way. She doesn’t know, but it’s getting on her nerves. It always had. Some things, apparently, never change. She’d woken up to twenty texts from Archie and Betty. Who had told Nancy and Chuck. Who had passed it on to Midge and Moose. Veronica had only half read them, and mostly, she couldn’t answer their questions. But no one had told Reggie that Jughead is back.

When he takes the bacon out of the frying pan, tossing it onto some paper towel, he sighs. “I didn’t know where else to go. My mom took Jellybean and they…they’re gone now.”

“Gone like you were or gone like…your father?” Veronica asks, softening her voice the best she can.

“Both? Neither? I don’t know,” Jughead mutters. “I came home, because I started to realize that this is where I should’ve been. And I walked into an empty house. Like, the furniture and shit was still there. But there was an envelope on the table addressed to me. The letter…they didn’t believe I’d ever be back.”

“How do you know that?” Veronica asks, covering her mouth to yawn again.

“Because the note said so. It started off with some line about how neither of them expected for me to ever come back. I’m alone in this world. I guess I got what I  wanted.”

Veronica tilts her head. She can’t figure it out. She rubs the back of her neck, before asking, “Why me?”

Jughead pauses to look at her. He scratches his nose. “Yeah, well, let’s face it. I burned a lot of bridges, y’know.”

“And you didn’t think you had with me? I gave you ten thousand dollars. And you only sent me six post cards in four years.”

His shoulders sag a little. “I know, Ron–Veronica. I know. I’m sorry. It’s just…before I left, I said some really shitty things to Archie. I told him he had to grow up and stop dragging you and Betty along. Make a decision. I called him a dumb coward. And Betty overheard the whole thing, and she shouted at me. I made some snide remark about how Betty is always coming to the rescue of Archie. And I made her cry.”

Veronica meets his eyes. “I remember.”

“And fuck, I just–hell, even Midge was pissed at me when I left. She spent the first few weeks leaving me voice mail after voice mail. Eventually, I stopped listening to them. Let my box fill up so she couldn’t leave me anymore. She was so angry at me.”

“Ethel is probably the only person who doesn’t have a reason to highly dislike you, Jughead.”

“You’re right. But what kind of man would I be if I showed up at her door? I led her on like Archie did with you, Bets, and Valerie. I never told her that I was…”

Veronica perks up at this. “That you were…?”

“That I  _am_  asexual.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. Do you know…”

“I’m heavily involved with a queer charity, and part of the conditions of my donations is that the charity takes a portion of the funds to go from town to town to educate others.” Veronica smiles. She’s pretty damn proud of her charity. “Before they did any of this though, they ran their presentation by me first. A few times. So, yeah. I know what being ace means.”

“Wow.”

“I know, I’m awesome.” Veronica gives him a teasing smile to let him know that this conversation doesn’t need to be as tense as it currently is. He huffs at that. “Reggie’s actually the CEO of the charity.”

“How…”

“How is he?”

“He’s doing really well for himself. Is he happy? Not really, but he’s trying to make the most of it.” Veronica eyes him carefully. “Jughead, what exactly happened between you and Reg?”

He avoids her gaze now, serving each breakfast item onto the plates he’d brought out for them. “It’s complicated.”

“I can do complicated,” Veronica tells him. “But I can only do it if I have the facts. So. What happened between you? Because when you left, Reggie was devastated. He stopped functioning properly, and it took the gang almost two years before we got him to  _do_  something with his life.”

“I didn’t know.”

“How could you? You weren’t here. So. Tell me.”

Jughead sits down. He plays with his fork, moving his eggs around. Veronica carefully picked up a piece of bacon and takes a delicate bite. “Reggie and I…we had a pretty intense friendship. Everything was a huge mess back then, before my dad passed way. We were…well, we were more or less hate-fucking each other. And when I told him my plan to leave after my dad died, he yelled at me to go. So I did.”

Veronica rolls her eyes. “Right, okay. Leave out all the details then. So he yelled at you to go. Why?”

“I guess he didn’t want me here.”

“Or maybe he wanted to be the reason you stayed.”

Jughead looks at her now, and his lips part. He sets his fork down carefully. “Veronica, I can’t undo what I did or how I left. I can’t pay you back. I can’t…I can’t do any of that. I can’t take back what I said or turn back time to redo it again. I just know that every day I was away from here, I thought I was doing everyone a favour by staying away. That your lives would be better without me.”

“Why come back then?”

“Because I realized my life was shit without you guys. And I thought I had to take a risk to see if you felt the same. I came to you, because no matter what bullshit we’ve gone through together, you’ve  _always_  been there for me. Hell, even when you were still the little entitled fifteen year old bitch; you never let me down. And I am so sorry for letting you down. You grew into an amazing woman - I’ve kept tabs on you - and I’m so proud of you. And I want a chance to become someone  _you_  can be proud of too.”

Veronica leans forward to put her hand over his. “One day at a time, Jug. Also, I resent being called an entitled fifteen year old bitch. I was a  _spoiled_  and entitled fifteen year old bitch.”

Jughead laughs. A moment passes before he asks, “Do you think it’s going to be okay? Do you think Reggie will forgive me?”

“It might take some work, but yes, I think it’ll be okay again. And yes, I think he’ll forgive you.”

“Are  _we_  going to be okay?”

She tilts her head, studying her old friend. Some things stay the same, no matter how the universe tries to break it. She gives his hand a squeeze. “We already are.”

**x x x**

**Author's Note:**

> originally posted [here.](https://veronicabunch.tumblr.com/post/162564816897/bxdcubes-said-well-i-would-love-to-read-some)


End file.
